As of: February 2, 2024, 1:20 p.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
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Press
Split
There are differences of opinion between Zelenskyj and his army chief - also over recruitment.
Now Saluschnyj will probably be released.
KYIV - Ukraine needs to prepare for a reduction in military aid from its key allies and focus even more on technology, according to Ukraine's army chief Valery Zalushny.
He is also calling on his political superior, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to meet his demand for the conscription of up to 500,000 soldiers.
The general, who is popular in Ukraine and who, according to numerous reports, will be fired in the next few days, commented on the
war in Ukraine in a guest article for the US news portal
CNN on Thursday (February 1).
“We must recognize that the enemy enjoys a significant advantage in mobilizing human resources and that state institutions in Ukraine are unable to improve the manpower of our armed forces without the use of unpopular measures,” Saluzhny said there.
In doing so, he takes on Volodymyr Zelenskyj directly.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
© IMAGO/Ukrainian Presidential Press Off
Zalushnyj wants to call up 500,000 people - and is Zelenskyj's only serious rival
The required mass mobilization has long been a source of tension between him and the Ukrainian president.
Saluzhny has for some time been of the opinion that half a million people may have to be called up if Kiev wants to counter Russia's overwhelming superiority.
The dispute has now spilled into the public eye amid growing fears over the West's commitment to continued financial support for Kiev.
The EU was finally able to agree on a 50 billion euro package for Kiev on Thursday (February 1st).
However, concerns remain that US approval of new aid could be further delayed.
While Zelensky is the undisputed face of Ukraine abroad, Saluzhny rivals the president's popularity in Ukraine.
His face is omnipresent there on posters and in Internet memes, as the British
Guradian
reports.
It is this rival popularity that lies at the heart of the current crisis, opposition MP and Saluzhny ally Oleksiy Honcharenko told the newspaper.
Zelenskyj wants to be “the only star in the show”.
The general had criticized the sluggish counteroffensive - now he could be fired
Zalushnyy was appointed head of the Ukrainian armed forces in July 2021, at a time when Ukraine had already been struggling with Russian incursions into its eastern provinces for seven years.
According to the
Guardian
, he is seen as the embodiment of Ukraine's military transformation from Soviet-era stubbornness to Western modernity.
Last summer, however, the first conflicts with Zelensky arose because the general
described Ukraine's sluggish counteroffensive to the
Economist as a dead end.
Although this interview angered the presidential office, it did not harm Saluzhny's popularity according to opinion polls, the newspaper continued.
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Now the commander-in-chief is set to be fired, a move that Oleksiy Honcharenko fears will “harm the morale of society,” although it is unlikely to have any impact on the battlefield.
According to
CNN,
Zalushnyy was called into a meeting at Mr. Zelensky's office on Monday (January 29) to be informed of his dismissal.
He was offered another position but declined it.
The Ukrainian president will announce the general's firing, which would be the biggest military shakeup since the Russian invasion, by the end of the week, it said.
To victory, despite dwindling military aid: Saluzhnyj's three-point plan for the Ukraine war
However, the army chief's op-ed for
CNN
was written before the expected announcement of his dismissal and does not address it or his relationship with the president.
Instead, the military commander there is trying to build on an argument made in an essay published in the
Economist
three months ago , commenting for the first time on a series of political setbacks at home and abroad.
Saluzhnyy advocates for increased use of modern technologies on the battlefield and warns that "we should expect a reduction in military support from key allies" as they "struggle with their own political tensions."
In addition to the call for mobilization of soldiers, Saluzhny says three areas are particularly important for Ukraine's war effort in the coming year.
A “system for supplying our armed forces with high-tech means” must be created and a “new training and war philosophy” introduced “that takes into account the limitations of the means and their possible uses”.
In addition, one must learn to master “new combat skills” as quickly as possible.
The aim must be to “take advantage of the moment” to “inflict maximum damage on the enemy, end the aggression and protect Ukraine from it in the future,” said the general.
(tpn)